Season starts Wednesday for Islanders

New York Islander Fan Central | 12/18/2007 09:07:00 AM | |
Sure the Simon fallout will continue until his suspension is announced, but bottom line the Islanders have a game tomorrow and have to get to work or this team is going to fall out of contention and it will not matter if Simon is given a chance to return this year or not.

That should start with a club that got the better of them Wednesday in Buffalo, who will have the same four days off the Isles have.

It's tough to escape last place when teams from the same division will play one another and a lot of three point games out there. Either the Islanders start scoring and start finding ways to grind out wins whether they are ugly or not or they are going to find themselves separated from the teams in playoff position.

The norm to qualify for the playoffs is a combination of at least ten games over five hundred and ninety two points. Islanders from here have to play at least nine games over and have to do it with a club that has not had a four goal game since the first week of November.

It gets worse too considering the shots against have gone up dramatically against Rick DiPietro in the recent stretch of games with Buffalo, Pittsburgh and even Phoenix getting to the Islander net. If he has to make forty saves for this team to win he is not going to be able to keep the club in games to the level that will be required.

On the good news front I love the call up of Blake Comeau and feel he had hit a wall in Bridgeport and like Trent Hunter just needed a chance to play in the NHL with lower expectations.

Of course Hunter was a proven thirty goal scorer in the NHL when he was struggling and got the call, Comeau was benched in Bridgeport last week and is not a proven AHL scorer.

That written Blake Comeau's overall resume is one that says he can play at the NHL level and no doubt he will work hard. How much time Ted Nolan gives him is another matter. What he does bring is a skill set and some speed lacking on the roster.

Sure has been very quiet on the Bryan Berard front. Marc-Andre Bergeron has aleady said he's scared mistakes will land on him the bench and he made a big one Saturday what happens if he's benched again after his previous outburst?

Speaking of outbursts gm Garth Snow has been far too quiet for a team that has struggled but then again he was quiet when the club was winning. Don't expect any Milbury like comments to the media because as a gm he has not done what he occasionally did as a player. Being a gm by committee also puts him in a position where he may not be speaking for the majority.

Season starts again for the Islanders on Wednesday, a few more losses and they are going to become must wins because they do not have the fire power to go on long winning streaks or even play near the level they did at five on five a year ago.

Winning streaks? Islanders last five game winning streak was in December for those looking for a little karma.

Unfortunately it was December of 1993.

For those wondering starting Wednesday the NHL holday trading freeze begins.